Iowa employment agency proposes office, job cuts

Iowa Workforce Development proposes cutting three dozen field offices across the state and about 100 positions to meet Gov. Terry Branstad’s budget recommendation, said Teresa Wahlert, the agency’s director.

Wahlert, who outlined the proposal today to the joint economic development appropriations subcommittee, said the state would shift computers and other technology from closing workforce development offices to the state’s public libraries, where many Iowa jobless workers congregate to search for jobs and write resumes.

In all, Iowa has about 540 libraries. Wahlert said the proposal would expand access and cost less.

State Democrats blasted the idea, saying it would hurt services to more than 100,000 unemployed Iowa workers.

“The governor is pulling out the rug on Iowans by reducing their access to key services by closing 39 workforce development offices, mostly in rural areas,” said Dotzler.

“Instead of increasing access to employment services for workers and businesses, the governor’s plan puts up more barriers for Iowans looking for a job and businesses trying to hire new workers,” he said.

Wahlert said the state would maintain its 16 regional offices, nine of which have been converted into “one stop” offices that provide integrated services — from signing up for unemployment insurance checks to searching for jobs, skills testing, and job training and counseling.

Already, about 100 libraries work with the state employment agency to provide services to jobless workers, said Kerry Koonce, spokeswoman for Iowa Workforce Development. The state also works with local community groups, staffed by volunteers, and Iowa State University extension offices to provide services.

Leaders said the state agency would train new library staffs that participate.

Wahlert said many of the offices that would close have limited hours and part-time staffs.

She sees the budget cuts as the best way to provide the $700,000 to $750,000 needed to improve services at the agency’s seven regional offices yet to be integrated. The agency is required to integrate services at all the regional offices by the end of the next budget year, under state law.

The governor’s proposed budget would cut Iowa Workforce Development’s funding 6.3 percent to about $15.67 million. State funding is about 20 percent of the total budget, Wahlert said, with the remaining funding coming from the federal government.

In addition to the budget cuts, the state agency also expects to receive about $3.5 million less next fiscal from interest on a portion of the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund, said Koonce. Last year, the agency received about $6 million, she said.

State income has declined because interest rates have fallen and the trust fund is smaller due to job losses, Koonce said.

Wahlert said the integrated regional offices are important to assessing worker skills and providing training and counseling. For example, the state discovered 14 percent of workers who sought state employment services last year had no high school diploma or an equivalency diploma. “We can provide training right at the centers,” said Wahlert.

The agency’s budget plan “frees up money to complete that initiative,” she said.

Tapping data collected about workers’ skills, the integrated centers are able to better match workers with open jobs, said Wahlert. The integrated regional offices can send emails to both workers and employers about possible employment matches.

And as the economy improves, the state hopes it will be able to use data about worker skills to sell communities to companies looking to expand, said Wahlert. “It facilitates partnering with business to get skilled labor,” she said.